Beading strip



Nov. 17,- 1953 SPRARAGEN BEADING STRIP Filed Oct. 20, 1951 Snventor w v@um WM r Uw MW Patented Nov. 17, 1953 BEADIN G STRIP Louis Spraragen,Fairfield, Conn.,

assignor to Bridgeport Fabrics, Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., a corporationof Connecticut Application October 20, 1951, Serial No. 252,277

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to beading strips and more particularly tobeading strips for weatherprooiing and/or ornamental purposes.

Beading strips of the type herein disclosed have been used as a meansfor weatherproong and/or providing ornamentation about openings inautomobile or the like bodies. It has'been a problem to provide such astrip which could be readily installed and yet easily and cheaplymanufactured.

One effort to solve this problem has been to provide a sponge rubberbead with a fabric cover having a width greater than the circumferenceof the bead and having the edges of the fabric secured together toextend out from the bead to form an attaching member whereby the spongemay be mounted on the body. On the securedtogether edges there has beenprovided a plastic L-shaped member with `the ilange projecting therefromwhich provides for holding the strip on a support. This type ofconstruction, however, has not been satisfactory since the bead, beingconnected to the support merely through the fabric material, was notstiff enough to beA pressed with sucient force against the door or otherclosure to produce an adequate seal and furthermore it requiredadditional operations inY the manufacture which tend to increase thecost.

The present invention overcomes ythese diiculties Iby providing abeading strip which is easily mounted on the body and may bemanufactured at substantially no increase in cost over those heretoforemade and has a stiifness sufiicient to provide foradequate seal inweather'- prooiing the opening. Y Y

This has been accomplished by providing the bead with an attaching stripwhich is anchored to the bead and provided with alongitudinal projectionin spaced relation to the bead and extending fromthe plane of theattaching strip whichiis suiciently rigid to cooperate with the supportto hold the beadingstrip in place.

The required stiflness ofthe attaching strip in transverse direction,can be obtained by various ways. In the illustrated'form of theinvention wires Vor the like stiffening members extend transversely,in-which case the longitudinal projection is formed by a bend in thewires intermediate their ends.

In the more speciic aspects ofthe invention lthe attaching strip can beformed as a woven fabric having wire Wefts and brous warps. This stripis readily iiexible` to permitmanipulation of the beading strip aroundcurves and irregular surfaces and yet is sufciently stiff Vto providefor adequate pressure of the bead against the closure and rm support formounting the strip. The woven fabric is provided with a bent loopintermediate its edges and extending longitudinally thereof producing aflange-engaging abutment adjacent the bead and forming a channel withthe bead to receive theange on the automobile to support the same. Thisstructure can be readily mounted on the automobile and can be easilymanufactured without substantially in creasing the cost over beadingstrips having at bead and attaching strip covered. Y

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the beading stripinstalled.

The beading strip of the present invention comprises a bead Iii ofcompressible material, herein illustrated as sponge rubber, having arelatively stii attaching flange Il secured thereto. In the hereinpreferred form of the invention the attaching flange has one edgeHaembedded in the bead s o that the remainder of the strip pro-g jectsoutwardly from the bead. This can be accomplished by assembling thepartsofthe bead on the edge or by forming the bead on the edgev in itsmanufacture as in the casev ofra blown sponge rubber bead.

While the attaching flange may be formed of vanymaterial whichwilLprovide the Asu'iiicient stiffness for mounting the bead, it isherein illustratedv as being. formed )of a woven fabric having A wire.wefts lzandiibrous warpsV I3. The warps Vmay be made of textilematerial, paper or other like material. extend beyond vide loops I2@extending into attaching strip. Y

Intermediatefthe edge of the attaching strip there is vprovided alongitudinally extending por# tion i4 projecting from the plane of theVattaching` strip and which cooperates with the flange on the automobilebody, as shownin Fig. 3, to

mount the .beading strip on the automobile body. Y I

VThe wefts, asY shown inl Fig. 3,` one edge of the warps and p'rov- Ythe bead to facili` tate the anchoring of the bead to the edge of the`In the preferred form of the invention this projection is formed, beforeor after it is assembled with the bead, by passing the strip through aseries of suitably shaped rollers and bending the attaching striplongitudinally as shown in the drawings.

The beading strip of the present invention is shown in Fig. 3 asinstalled about an opening on an automobile body. The body has a mainmounting or frame member I5 provided with a flange iba and havinglanced-out tongues I6 which project inwardly. The other side ofthemember i5 is covered by the outer trim I1 which forms the frame forreceiving the door or the like. closure. Overlying the inner'faceof the'mount-l ing member l5 is a keeper plate I8 which is locked in place bythe tongues it passing; through openeings in the plate folded thereover.The keeper plate extends down so as to overlie the'end'- of the iiangeas shown in Fig. 3. It can be installed after the beading strip has beenput in place or the strip. canbe inserted between the plate and edge ofthe fiange after the plate has been secured. The surface ofv the keeperplatea which overlies the strip il has lanced-out barbs fida. which faceinwardly and aid in holding thebeading strip against unintentionalremoval While permitting ready insertionr of' ther strip. The barbs alsoaid. in holding the edge of' the interior top cover l which is carriedaround thevedg'eof j the plate and tucked in alongside of the strip l1Vas Shown in Fig. 3.

Thus it Will be seen` that the beading strip oi the 'present inventioncan be made very simply by merely providing a bend in the flatlattaching strip intermediate the edges and by st'lpporting` the stripfrom the bend by the mounting iiange.

If desired, ornamentation of the bead may be accomplished by providing abead with a suitable cover of any covering material such as fabric,rubber, plastics or the like. In theV herein illustrated form of theinvention a fab-ric cover 2&3 which blends with the interior trim oftheautomobile is employed. It overlies the face of the attaching striphaving the projection, extends around the bead, and overlies theopposite face of the Yattaching strip. If desired, theendt Zta of thecover is folded over the free edge ofl the attaching strip to provide acompletely iinish'ed appearance for the beading strip. l Y

Variations and modiiications may be made within the scope of the claimsand portions ofi the improvements may be used Without others.

I claim: K

1. A beadingA strip comprising a flexible bead of compressible material;an attaching strip having one edge secured' to the bead with the 'stripprojecting therefrom, said stri'p'having, a metallic portion thereinproviding a longitudinally extending portion intermediate its edgesprojecting from the plane of the strip and cooperatingwith.

the bead to form a angeer'eceiving channell for-v mounting the beadingstrip; and' a coverenciosing the bead 'andattaching'strip 2. A beadingstrip comprising a exble; bead? of compressible material; anattachingstrip including a metallic reenforcing 'member having one edgeinserted in and secured to the bead with the strip projecting therefrom,said strip having a longitudinal bend in the reenforcing memberintermediate its edges projecting from the plane of the strip andcooperating with the bead to form a flange-receiving channel formounting the strip; and a cover enclosing the bead and attaching;strip'.

3; A strip comprisinga iiexible bead of compressible material; anattaching strip having one edge anchored within the bead with the stripprojecting therefrom, said strip having reenforcing means therein andextending longitudinally thereof? and providing a longitudinally,nonyielding extending rib portion intermediate the edges of the'stripand forming a flange-engaging extension projectingY from the plane ofthe strip adjacent the bead for mounting the beading strip on a support;and a cover enclosing the bead and attaching strip.

4. A beading strip comprising a flexible bead of compressble material;an attaching strip including a plurality of transversely extending Wirestherein, saidf stripfhaving one edge secured to the bead with the stripprojecting therefrom and having a longitudinally extending bent p0rtionintermediate its edges projecting from the plane of the strip andVforming a ange-engaging abutment facing the bead:V for mounting thebeading strip; and a cover enclosing the bead and attaching strip.

5. In a beadingstrip, a iiexible bead of sponge rubber and an attachingstrip havingl one edge embedded in the bead with the strip projectingtherefrom, said strip comprising a Woven member having transverselyextending wire wefts and iibrous Warps withv the Wefts projecting beyondthe Warps to form loops along the embedded edge ofthe strip andsaidstrip having a longitudinal bend intermediate its edges forming aloop projecting from the plane of the strip and cooperatingv with thebead to form a flange-receiving channel for mountingthe strip.

6. Anl attaching strip for a beading strip hav-- ing aflexible beadcomprising a woven strip-having transversely-extending Wirewefts andfibrous Warps with the wefts projecting beyond the Warps to form loopsalong one edge of the strip adapted to be embedded; in said'bead andhaving a longitudinal bend intermediate its edgesl forining an abutmentprojecting from the plane of the strip and cooperating with the bead toform a flange-receiving, channel for mounting the strip.

LOUIS SPRARAGEN;

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES. PATENTS NumberName Date.

1,837,4ai3.F Jarrow liec.,22, 1931` 1,93238'22 Holbrook Oct. 31,1933"2,347,158 vSpraragen Apr. 18, 1944 A FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date104,676V Sweden f Apr.. 1, 1942 820,238 France July 26,. 1937

